Posting tray



Wm WM G .m m m m 9 1 0w 2 e m J Original Filed August 20. 1923 s sheets-sheet 1 m1 1 In \/E 37/ J. (faves June 29 1926. 1,590,520

H. s. JONES POSTING TRAY Original Filed August 20. 1923 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 Jun 29 1926. 1,590,520

H. S. JONES POSTING TRAY Original Filed August 20, 1923. 3 Sheets-Sheet 5 Patented June 29,

PATENT oFFicE.

HARRY s. some, or cnrcaso, ILLINOIS.

POSTING TRAY.

Application filed August 20, 1823, Serial No. 658,252. Renewed November 20, 1925.

This invention relates to an automatic or self-aligning posting rack or tray for machine book posting, or other purposes.

In machine book posting especially in connection with the Elliot-Fisher machine, much ditliculty has been encountered in passing through the machine loose sheets that have open impaling holes or slots on account of the crumbling or fringing that occurs upon the walls of the open slots. Sheets having closed impaling holes will avoid such difiiculty, but such sheets are usually so iirnr ly impaled upon their impaling posts that a great deal of time and labor is required in manip lating such sheets in connection with h binder in which they' are bound, it is lesirable that such sheets be removed from their impaling posts or else that the impaling posts be removed before posting. In either case, the difiiculty of aligning the loose sheets for replacement in the binder is encountered, and it is among the objects of this invention to overcome this latter men- -tioned difiiculty in the provision of a posting in which the loose sheets are adapted to be placed after posting.

In addition to the foregoing advantage the posting rack is designed so as to greatly facilitate the assembling and disassembling of the posting tray binder that may be user and also the handling or the manipulation of the loose leaves during the operation of postin l Vith these and other advantages in view, which will become more apparent in the following description and disclosures in the drawings, this invention comprises the novel mechanism and combinations hereinafter described ano more particularly pointed out and defined in the appended claims.

In the accompanying drawings which illustrate certain preferred embodiments of this invention and in which similar reference numerals refer to similar features in the difierent views: y

Fig. 1 is a side elevational view of the posting rack involving this invention.

2 is a top plan view thereof.

Fig. 3 is substantially a top plan view of the rack containing the separable parts of a binder to' illustrate the use thereof.

Fig. at is a fragmentary plan view of the ali-ner showing its attachment to the nan-is at th F ig. 5 is a central vertical section through the rack upon a reduced scale.

F 6 is a perspective view of a posting tray binder.

Fig. 7 is a sideelevational view of a moditied form of posting rack involving this invention.

Fig. 8 is a top plan view of the modified form of posting rack.

Fig. 9 is an enlarged view taken substan tially upon the line 99 of Fig. 7 looking in the direction of the arrows with parts in sec tion and parts in elevation.

The illustrated embodiment of this invention comprises a pair of inc-lined supports which in the present instance are oppositely arranged. One of said supports may be termed the ledger support upon which the back or bottom cover of the ledger and the loose sheets are sustained during the posting operation. The other support is formed with means for receiving the loose sheets as they are posted or shifted over from the ledger support and automatically alining the same, so that when the loose sheets have been all transferred from the ledger support, the back of the binder may be readily applied to the stack of alined sheets.

Turning now to Figs. 1 to 6 which illustrate an exemplification of this invention, there is shown a posting rack constructed of flat metal bars,- but it should be understood that any other suitable material may be used. In the present instance, a pair of flat bars of suitable length are bent to provide suitable base portions 1 and vertical uprights 2 which incline downwardly toward each other as indicated at 3 and 4, to form lateral inclined supports. The inclined supports 4 extend to the base 1 where they are provided with suitable attaching feet by means of which they are bolted to said base. Diagonal bracing. members 5 attached to the base members 1 serve to space and hold the same in parallel spaced relation. Cross braces 6 may be bolted to the vertical uprights 2 to strengthen the ends ofthe rack, and cross braces 7 may connect the inclined support ing members 3 to add rigidity to the struc-' tur. I

A pair of V-shaped metal bars 8 provided if h suitable attacliingfeet are respectively see cured at their opposite ends by means of said feet to the inclined supports 4 and the base resses 1. The spares of these"- V-shaped bars 8 project lJCiWCOH the inclined lateral supports 3 and 4: so that a structure resembling a W is formed. The inclined supports 3 are provided with feet which are attached to an intermediate portion of the V-shaped bars between the apexes and the base portions 1 of the rack frame. A platform in the form of a plate 9 is hinged at the unctures of the inclined supports 3 and the V-shaped bars 8, and is adapted to normally rest upon one 111- clined side of the V -shaped bars. This platform 9 extends at substantially a right angle to the inclined supports 3 and forms the base of the ledger support.

A sheet alineris secured upon the inclined supports 4t and comprises downwardly converging walls between which the sheets are allowed to drop by gravity and be automatically alined by the converging walls which engage adjacent edges or" the sheets.

In the form illustrated, this sheet aliner comprises a V'shaped plate member 10 having inwardly turned marginal flanges 11 at its low .1 edges by means of which it is bolted or riveted to the inclined supports a and to a transverse brace 12 which is att-ached to the supports fl. It will be noted that the converging walls of the aliner extend from the lateral edges of the support 1 and meet at substantially the longitudinal center line of the rack and may be said to extend obliquely over the inclined support l.

A second transverse brace 13 may extend across the inclined supports 4 at the upper edge of the aliner to strengthen the structure. One of the flanges 11 of the aliner may be provided with suitable apertures 1e and 15, through which the impaling posts are adapted to pass duringthe assembling operation.

The upper edges of the sheet alincr are at substantially right angles to the inclined supports 4. A transversely extending plate 16 having :1 depending flange may be supported upon the inclined supports 4: above the sheet aliner, as shown in Figs. 1 and 2. This plate may be swung or tilted upward from the position shown in Fig. 1, so that it will rest against the edges of thealiner in order to form a temporary rest or supporting platform for the binder when it is desired to disassemble the same, as will be later more fully explained.

In Figs. 7, 8 and 9 is illustrated a slightly modified form of raclr which will now )e described. The base of this-rack is formed by a pair of parallel channel bars 17 having the. channels thereof facing inwardly and toward each other. Transverse braces 18 may be secured to these channel members to hold the same in spaced relation. A pair of ver tical standards 19 are secured at their lower ends to the channel bars 17 and the upper portions of the standards inclined down- Wardly and inwardly as indicated at 20 CO resaeeo form lateral ledger supports. Crossed braces 6 and 7 may respectively connect the vertical standards 19 and inclined supports 20 to strengthen the structure.

A pair of V-shaped flat bars 21 are bolted at their lower ends to the channel bars 17, and the inclined supports 20 are secured to these V-shaped bars in a manner similar to the first form. The ledger support 9 eX- tends transversely of the ii-shaped bars just above the inclined supports 20.

A pair of supporting blocks are slid ably mounted in the channel bars 17 and extend therebey md as shown in Fig. 9. A transverse brace 23 may connect said blocks for retaining the same in proper position. A pair of vertical standards 2% re supported upon these blocks the upper portions of these standards incline downwardly and inwardly to form inclined supports 25- which are secured at their lower ends to slidable blocks supported in the channel bars similar to the blocks These inclined supports are braced by the transverse bars 12 and 13.

An automatic sheet aliner 10 similar to the one in the lirst form is supported upon the inclined supports After the posting operation is completed audit is desired to assemble the binder, th inclined supports 25 with the attached aliner 10 may be shifted longitudinally as shown in dotted lines in Fig. 7, so that better access and more space will be afforded for assembling the binder upon the aliner which has its lower attaching flange cut away upon one side for receiving the impaling posts of the binder.

In using this posting rack, any form of posting tray binder may be used. In the present instance, I have shown a posting tray binder 2'? having a removable cover 28 and a back or bottom cover 29. The usual clamping members 30 are hinged to the covers and impaling posts 31 extend from the lower clamping member. In the use of such a binder in connection with my improved posting rack or tray as it is sometimes termed, the temporary support 16 is swung to operative position. against the upper edges of the aliner. The binder is unlocked and then positioned thereupon with the removable cover 28 positioned against the inclined supports 25. The back cover 29 is thenremoved by withdrawing the impaling posts from the loose leaves. This back cover is then positioned upon the ledger support so that its clamping member and impaling posts will dangle or swing downwardly at one side as shown in Fig. 31 The loose sheets are then transferred and positioned upon the ledger support against the bottom cover as shown in F ig. 3. The front or removable cover 28 is then removed from the temporary support 16 which is then swung back into inoperative position so that the front cover may be positionedin,

the sheet aliner as shown in Fig. 3. During the posting operation, the sheets are transferred from the ledger support and positioned in the sheet aliner upon the cover 28. The sheets will drop by gravity into the aliner which engages adjacent edges of the sheets so that the impaling holes will come into exact registry. It will be evident that the sheets upon the ledger support are free so as to be easily manipulated, whereby the posting operation is greatly facilitated. When the posting has been completed and all the sheets have be a transferred to the sheet aliner, the bottom cover may be removed from the ledger support, the plate 9 swung back against the inclined supportand the bottom cover applied upon the sheets in the aliner. As the impaling holes of the sheets in the aliner are in exact registry, the impaling posts may be readily inserted with out any difficulty. When the binder has been thuswise assembled it may be removed from the aliner 10 and the front cove 1 locked thereto as is obvious.

The use of the modified form of the invention is not materially different from that just described, except that the aliner and its supportare adapted to be shifted longitudinally for assembling the binder after postin lVhile I have described my improved alining rack in connection with machine book posting, it should be understood that the same may be used for other purposes, such as alining letters, bills and all kinds of sheets, and may be used as an assorting and alining table or rack, the supports 9 and 16 serving as asserting places or tables or the rack may be positioned upon a table or desk where the assorting may be done, so that the sheets may be alined and collected.

From the foregoing, it will be apparent that a novel form of posting rack or tray has been invented that automatically aliues the sheets, greatly facilitates the manipulation of the sheets during posting and that facilitates the assembling of the binder after posting.

I am aware that numerous details of construction may be varied through a wine range without departing from the principles of this invention, and I therefore do not purpose limiting' the patent granted otherwise than necessitated by the prior art.

I claim as n y invention:

1. In a posting tray, an inclined ledger support, an oppositely inclined support and a pair of converging walls rising from said second support and extending inwardly and downwardly between which sheets are adapted to be dropped and automatically alined y gravity.

2. The combination with a support, of a loose sheet aliner adjacent said support, said aliner comprising a base and a pair of converging walls on said base so arranged that sheets dropped therebetween are adapted to be automatically alined by gravity.

3. A sheet aliner comprising an inclined support, converging walls rising from said support and meeting at a point substantially in the center line of said support for the purpose set forth.

4%. A loose sheet aliner comprising a base and a pair of converging walls at right angles to said base, the planes of said walls cutting the base in oblique lines.

5. In a posting rack, a ledger support and a posted leaf support comprising a member against which the leaves are adapted to rest and converging walls having planes cutting said member in oblique lines.

6. In a posting rack, a ledger support, a posted sheet support longitudinally adjustable with respect to the ledger support and an automatic sheet aliner on said second support into which the sheets are adapted to be dropped and amtomatically alined rv gravity.

7. In a posting rack for machine bookkeeping, apair of oppositely'inclined supports having relative longitudinal movement and converging walls rising from one of said supports; the planes of said walls cut ting said support in oblique planes.

8. In a posting rack for machine hook keeping, a pair of oppositely inclined supports relatively adjustable in a longitudinal direction and a V-shap-ed device on one of said supports having its apex substantially in the center line of said rack for the purpose set forth.

9. In a posting rack for machine book posting, an inclined ledger support, a renovable base at the lower end of said support, an oppositely inclined posted leaf support and downwardly inclined and inwardly converging walls on said posted leaf sup port; said supports being relatively adjustable.

10. In a posting rack for machine book posting, an inclined ledger support, an oppositely inclined posted leaf support and a pair of downwardly and inwardly extending converging walls on said posted leaf support between which the sheets are dropped and automatically alined by gravity.

11. In a posting rack for machine book posting, an inclined ledger support, an oppositely inclined posted leaf support and a pair of converging walls on said posted leaf support, said walls extending from the lateral edges of said rack and contacting at substantially the center line of said rack. In testimony whereof I have hereunto subscribed my name.

HARRY S. JOIlES 

